252 GUN, EOD, AND SADDLE. 



STEOIfG SHOOTIlN"G. 



Do guns of this day shoot better than those manu- 

 factured ten years ago ? The reason why I propound 

 such a question is, that I hear and read of birds being 

 killed steadily at seventy and eighty yards, of trap- 

 shooting being practiced with a fifty yards' rise, and 

 the performers scoring four out of five. I never lived 

 in a neighborhood where it was not reported that 

 there was a vronderful shooting gun, but I never have 

 had the fortune to see any of them perform their 

 unprecedented feats; either the shooter's nerves were 

 out of order or the powder was bad. How unfortu- 

 nate it is that powder will so often be bad, more 

 especially when it is desirable that it should be ex- 

 cellent. When I hear sportsmen, particularly the 

 young gentlemen, narrate the performances of their 

 double barrels, I can not help commiserating myself 

 that I have never been able to obtain better than a 

 third-rate article for my use, for I have heretofore 

 thought the gun which killed reliably at forty and 



